Easy to open refrigerator

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a main body cabinet, a door mounted on the main body cabinet, and a hand gripping member provided in the door, where the hand gripping member includes a hand gripping part that a user grips and rotates; a plurality of supporting parts provided on both sides of the hand gripping part and supporting the hand gripping part against the door; and a rotating part provided in at least one of the plurality of supporting parts to restorably rotate the hand gripping part. Thus, present invention provides a refrigerator which is convenient to a user as reducing strain on a user&#39;s wrist by not bending the user&#39;s wrist in opening a door.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2004-0101415, filed on Dec. 3, 2004 and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-0030675, filed on Apr. 13, 2005 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to an easy to open refrigerator that reduces strain to a user's wrist due to bending of the user's wrist.

2. Description of the Related Art

The conventional refrigerator disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 1997-82473 is a side-by-side type of design, and includes a main body cabinet in which a cool chamber and a freezer are partitioned into the right and left by a middle partition wall. A cool chamber door and a freezer door are mounted to the main body cabinet to open and close the cool chamber and the freezer respectively. On each front surface of the cool chamber door and the freezer door is mounted a hand gripping member for gripping each door.

With this configuration, a user grips the hand gripping member and pulls the door to open it in the front direction.

However, in the conventional refrigerator, each hand gripping member is fixed at the front surface of the door, so that user's wrist is bent and strained by the fixed hand gripping member when the door is opened. Therefore, it is uncomfortable to use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide to a refrigerator which is convenient to a user as reducing strain on the user's wrist by not bending the user's wrist in opening a door.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a refrigerator having a main body cabinet, a door mounted on the main body cabinet, and a hand gripping member provided in the door, where the hand gripping member includes a hand gripping part that a user grips and rotates; a plurality of supporting parts provided on both sides of the hand gripping part and supporting the hand gripping part against the door; and a rotating part provided in at least one of the plurality of supporting parts and to restorably rotate the hand gripping part.

The rotating part includes a rotating shaft projected from both ends of the hand gripping part; and an elastic member coupled to the rotating shaft and the supporting part and supplying restoring force with respect to rotating of the hand gripping part.

The supporting part includes a supporting bar coupled to the door and a connecting part coupled to the supporting bar and accommodated with the rotating part.

The connecting part is coupled to the door.

The rotating shaft is located in the same axis line with a center axis line of the hand gripping part.

The rotating part includes a rotating shaft projected from the supporting parts to be coupled with the hand gripping part; and an elastic member coupled the rotating shaft and the hand gripping part, to supply the restoring force with respect to the rotating of hand gripping part.

The rotating part is coupled to the rotating shaft, and further includes a damper to relieve shock when the hand gripping part is restored.

The rotating part is coupled to the rotating shaft, and further includes a damper to relieve shock when the hand gripping part is restored.

The rotating part includes a pinion rotating together with the hand gripping part; a rack engaged with the pinion to slide according to rotating of the pinion; and an elastic member coupled with the rack to supply the restoring force with respect to rotating of hand gripping part.

The rotating part includes a cam part rotating together with the hand gripping part; a cam sliding part to slide according to rotating of the cam part; and an elastic member coupled with the cam sliding part to supply the restoring force with respect to the rotation of the hand gripping part.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a refrigerator having a main body cabinet, a door mounted on the main body cabinet, and a hand gripping member provided in the door, where the hand gripping member includes a hand gripping part provided with a rotating shaft at both ends thereof that a user grips and rotates; a plurality of supporting parts provided on both sides of the hand gripping part and supporting the hand gripping part against the door; and an elastic member provided between at least one of the plurality of supporting parts and the rotating part corresponding thereto, to supply restoring force with respect to rotating of hand gripping part.

The supporting part includes a supporting bar coupled to a front surface of the door and a connecting part provided in the supporting bar and coupled to the hand gripping part.

The hand gripping part and the supporting part are mounted on a front surface of the door in a lengthwise direction. The connecting part is provided with a concave part accommodated with the rotating shaft and the elastic member. The rotating shaft has the same axis line as a center axis line of the hand gripping part.

The rotating shaft has an end part thereof accommodated in the connecting part.

The elastic member includes a torsion spring which has a first end part thereof coupled to the hand gripping part and a second end part coupled to the connecting part.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view illustrating a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a refrigerator according to a first embodiment of the present invention taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a refrigerator according to a second embodiment of the present invention taken along line V-V of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6A is a plane view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 3 to illustrate the rotating state of a hand gripping member according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6B is a plane view illustrating the state that the hand gripping member of FIG. 6A is rotated in an original position;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a refrigerator according to a third embodiment of the present invention taken along line VII-VII of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8A is a plane view taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. 3 to illustrate a rotating state of a hand gripping member according to the third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8B is a plane view illustrating the state that the hand gripping member of FIG. 8A is rotated in an original position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4, a refrigerator 1 according to a first embodiment of the prevent invention includes a main body cabinet 10 in which a cool chamber (not shown) and a freezer (not shown) are partitioned into the right and left by a middle partition wall (not shown). A cool chamber door 11 and a freezer door 13 are mounted to be rotatable on a front surface of the main body cabinet 10 and to open and close the cool chamber and the freezer respectively.

On a front surface of each door 11, 13 are provided hand gripping members 15, 20 for gripping each door 11, 13. Hereinbelow, only the hand gripping member 20 of the cool chamber door 11 will be described.

Hinge parts 12 are respectively provided at an upper and lower part of right side of the cool chamber door 11, and the hand gripping member 20 is provided on a front surface in a lengthwise direction. Therefore, a user grips the hand gripping member 20 and opens and closes the cool chamber door 11 as rotating with respect to the hinge part 12.

The hand gripping member 20 includes a hand gripping part 21 that the user grips and rotates, a plurality of supporting parts 22 and 27 provided on opposite sides of the hand gripping part 21 and supporting the hand gripping part 21 against the cool chamber door 11. A rotating part 30 is provided on at least one of the plurality of supporting parts 22 and 27 for rotating the hand gripping part 21 restorably.

The hand gripping part 21 and the supporting parts 22 and 27 are mounted on the front surface of the cool chamber door 11 in the lengthwise direction. Also, rotating shafts 31 a and 31 b are projected from both ends of the hand gripping part 21. Therefore, the hand gripping part 21 can rotate about the rotating shafts 31 a and 31 b with respect to the supporting parts 22 and 27.

The rotating shafts 31 a and 31 b may be located on the same axis line with respect to a center axis line of the hand gripping part 21. Therefore, rotating force for rotating the hand gripping part 21 about the rotating shafts 31 a and 31 b is dispersed in the supporting parts 22 and 27, thereby preventing stress from being concentrated only a part of the supporting parts 22 and 27.

The supporting parts 22 and 27 include a first supporter 22 supporting an upper end of the hand gripping part 21 and a second supporting part 27 supporting a lower end of the hand gripping part 21.

The first supporting part 22 includes a supporting bar 24 coupled to an upper front surface of the cool chamber door 11, and a connecting part 25 extended to the supporting bar 24 in a vertical direction and coupled to the upper end of the hand gripping part 21.

The second supporting part 27 includes a supporting bar 26 coupled to a lower front surface of the cool chamber door 11, and a connecting part 23 extended to the supporting bar 26 in the vertical direction and coupled to the lower end of the hand gripping part 21.

Herein, the connecting parts 23 and 25 may be mounted to be coupled to the cool chamber door 11. Therefore, the connecting parts 23 and 25 are supported by the cool chamber door 11 and then the stress, which is generated by rotating of the hand gripping part 21, is dispersed in the cool chamber door 11, thereby preventing the connecting parts 23 and 25 from being damaged.

The rotating part 30 may be provided at both the first and second supporting parts 22 and 27, but in the embodiments of the present invention, the rotating part 30 provided at the first supporting part 22 will be described as follows.

The rotating part 30 is accommodated in the connecting part 25 of the first supporting part 22, and includes the rotating shaft 31 a provided in the hand gripping part 21, and an elastic member 32 coupled to the rotating shaft 31 a and the first supporting part 22 to supply restoring force with respect to rotation of the hand gripping part 21. The connecting part 25 of the supporting part 22 may be provided with a concave part 25 a in which the rotating shaft 31 a and the elastic member 32 are accommodated. Also the rotating shaft 31 a has the same axis line with respect to the center axis line of the hand gripping part 21.

Herein, the rotating shaft 31 a of the rotating part 30 is projected from the hand gripping part 21. Alternatively, the rotating shaft 31 a of the rotating part 30 may be projected from the first supporting part 22. In this case, the elastic member 32 may be coupled to the rotating shaft 31 a and the hand gripping part 21.

The elastic member 32 has a first end part coupled to the upper end part of the hand gripping part 21, and a second end part coupled to the connecting part 25 of the first supporting part 22. The elastic member 32 may be provided as a torsion spring or may be provided as an elastic material such as a rubber and the like. Therefore, if the user pulls the hand gripping part 21 in the frontward direction to open the cool chamber door 11 and then rotates it, the torsion spring elastic member 32 generates the restoring force with respect to the hand gripping part 21. If the user removes power from the hand gripping part 21, the hand gripping part 21 rotates in a reverse rotational direction and is returned to the original position by the restoring force of the torsion spring.

The rotating part 30 further includes a damper 33 interacted with the rotating shaft 31 a to relieve shock when the hand gripping part 21 is restored. The elastic member 32 is interacted with the rotating shaft 31 a and the damper 33 in the conventional way.

The damper 33 is coupled to an end part of the rotating shaft 31 a to be accommodated in the connecting part 25, and is provided with an oil damper which is worked by the rotating force of the rotating shaft 31 a. Therefore, the damper 33 reduces the rotating force of the hand gripping part 21 when the hand gripping part 21 is restored by the restoring force of the torsion spring 32, thereby smoothly rotating the hand gripping part 21 to the original position and enhancing convenience.

With this configuration, the rotating process of the hand gripping part 21 of the refrigerator 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail as follows.

At first, if the user holds and pulls the hand gripping part 21 in the frontward direction and then rotates it in a left side direction to open the cool chamber door 11, the rotating shafts 31 a and 31 b rotate in the same direction with respect to the rotating of the hand gripping part 21. At this moment, a torsion spring as the elastic member 32 generates the restoring force in the reverse rotational direction of the hand gripping part 21. Subsequently, if the user takes his hand off from the hand gripping part 21, the hand gripping part 21 is returned in the original position by the restoring force of the torsion spring. At this moment, the damper 33 is connected with the rotating shaft 31 a and makes the hand gripping part 21 rotate smoothly. Therefore, when the user opens the cool chamber door 11, the hand gripping part 21 can be rotated, thereby reducing strain to the user's wrist due to bending of the user's wrist.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a refrigerator according to a second embodiment of the present invention taken along line V-V of FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 5, a rotating part 230 of the refrigerator according to a second embodiment of the present invention includes a pinion 231 rotating together with a hand gripping part 21, and a rack 232 provided in the first supporting part 22 and engaged with the pinion 231 to elastically slide according to rotating of the pinion 231.

The pinion 231 has a tooth shape and is coupled with a rotating shaft 31 a and is rotated together with the hand gripping part 21.

The rack 232 is accommodated to the connecting part 25 of the first supporting part 22, and is engaged with the pinion 231. Therefore, if the user rotates the hand gripping part 21, the pinion 231 rotates in a rotational direction of the hand gripping part 21 and the rack 232 slides by converting a rotational movement of the pinion 231 into a straight line movement.

Further, the rotating part 230 may include an elastic member 233 provided in the first supporting part 22 to supply the restoring force with respect to the rack 232. Herein, the elastic member 232 may be provided as a spring or may be provided as an elastic material such as a rubber and the like.

With this configuration, the rotating process of the hand gripping part 21 of the refrigerator 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B as follows.

At first, if the user pulls the hand gripping part 21 in the frontward direction and then rotates it to open a cool chamber door 11, the pinion 231 is rotated together with the hand gripping part 21, and the rack 232 which is engaged with the pinion 231 moves in a straight line, and simultaneously presses a spring 233 (refer to FIG. 6A). After that, if the user removes power from the hand gripping part 21, the rack 232 and the pinion 231 are moved to the original position by the restoring force of the spring 233, and at the same time, the hand gripping part 21 is rotated and returned in the original position (refer to FIG. 6B).

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a refrigerator according to a third embodiment of the present invention taken along line VII-VII of FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 7, the refrigerator according to the third embodiment of the present invention includes a cam part 331 rotating together with the hand gripping part 21, and cam sliding part 332 provided in the first supporting part 22 and elastically sliding according to the rotation of the cam part 331.

The cam part 331 is coupled with a rotating shaft 31 a and is rotated together with the hand gripping part 21.

The cam sliding part 332 is accommodated in the connecting part 25 of the first supporting part 22, and is slid by the rotating of the cam part 331 according to the rotation of the hand gripping part 21. That is, if the user rotates the hand gripping part 21, the cam part 331 rotates in a rotational direction of the hand gripping part 21 and the cam sliding part 332 slides by converting the rotational movement of the cam part 331 into straight line movement.

Further, the rotating part 330 may include an elastic member 333 provided in the first supporting part 22 to supply the restoring force with respect to the cam sliding part 332. Herein, the elastic member 232 may be provided as a spring or may be provided as an elastic material such as a rubber and the like.

With this configuration, the rotating process of the hand gripping part 21 of the refrigerator 1 according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B as follows.

At first, if the user pulls the hand gripping part 21 in the front direction and then rotates it to open a cool chamber door 11, the cam part 331 is rotated together with the hand gripping part 21, and the cam sliding part 332 which is engaged with the cam part 331 moves in a straight line, and simultaneously presses a spring 333 (refer to FIG. 8A). After that, if the user removes power from the hand gripping part 21, the cam part 331 and the cam sliding part 332 are moved to the original position by the restoring force of the spring 333, and at the same time, the hand gripping part 21 is rotated and returned in the original position (refer to FIG. 8B).

The first embodiment is provided with a damper, but is not limited thereto. The second and third embodiments may also be provided with the damper.

The present invention employs a rotational type door which is rotated with respect to the main cabinet, but is not limited thereto, the present invention may be employed with a drawer type door.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents. 

1. A refrigerator having a main body cabinet, a door mounted on the main body cabinet, and a hand gripping member provided in the door, wherein the hand gripping member comprises: a hand gripping part that a user grips and rotates; a plurality of supporting parts provided on both sides of the hand gripping part and supporting the hand gripping part against the door; and a rotating part provided in at least one of the plurality of supporting parts to restorably rotate the hand gripping part.
 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the rotating part comprises: a rotating shaft projected from both ends of the hand gripping part; and an elastic member coupled to the rotating shaft and the supporting part to supply restoring force with respect to rotating of the hand gripping part.
 3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the supporting part comprises a supporting bar coupled to the door and a connecting part coupled to the supporting bar and accommodated with the rotating part.
 4. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the connecting part is coupled to the door.
 5. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the rotating shaft is located in the same axis line with a center axis line of the hand gripping part.
 6. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the rotating part comprises: a rotating shaft projected from the supporting parts to be coupled with the hand gripping part; and an elastic member coupled the rotating shaft and the hand gripping part to supply the restoring force with respect to the rotation of the hand gripping part.
 7. The refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein the rotating part is coupled to the rotating shaft, and further comprises a damper to relieve shock when the hand gripping part is restored.
 8. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the rotating part is coupled to the rotating shaft, and further comprises a damper to relieve shock when the hand gripping part is restored.
 9. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the rotating part comprises: a pinion rotating together with the hand gripping part; a rack engaged with the pinion to slide according to rotation of the pinion; and an elastic member coupled with the rack to supply the restoring force with respect to rotating of hand gripping part.
 10. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the rotating part comprises: a cam part rotating together with the hand gripping part; a cam sliding part to slide according to rotating of the cam part; and an elastic member coupled with the cam sliding part to supply the restoring force with respect to rotation of the hand gripping part.
 11. A refrigerator having a main body cabinet, a door mounted on the main body cabinet, and a hand gripping member provided in the door, wherein the hand gripping member comprises: a hand gripping part provided with a rotating shaft at both ends thereof so that a user grips and rotates; a plurality of supporting parts provided on both sides of the hand gripping part and supporting the hand gripping part against the door; and an elastic member provided between at least one of the plurality of supporting parts and the rotating part corresponding thereto, to supply restoring force with respect to rotation of the hand gripping part.
 12. The refrigerator according to claim 11, wherein the supporting part comprises: a supporting bar coupled to a front surface of the door; and a connecting part provided in the supporting bar coupled with the hand gripping part.
 13. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the hand gripping part and the supporting part are mounted on a front surface of the door in a lengthwise direction, the connecting part is provided with a concave part accommodated with the rotating shaft and the elastic member, and the rotating shaft has the same axis line with a center axis line of the hand gripping part.
 14. The refrigerator according to claim 13, wherein the rotating shaft has an end part thereof accommodated in the connecting part.
 15. The refrigerator according to claim 14, wherein the elastic member comprises a torsion spring which has a first end part thereof coupled to the hand gripping part and a second end part coupled to the connecting part.
 16. The refrigerator according to claim 11, further comprising a damper interacted with the rotating shaft to relieve shock when the hand gripping part is restored.
 17. The refrigerator according to claim 11, further comprising: a pinion rotating together with the hand gripping part; and a rack engaged with the pinion to slide according to rotation of the pinion, wherein an elastic member coupled with the rack supplies a restoring force with respect to rotating of hand gripping part.
 18. The refrigerator according to claim 11, further comprising: a cam part rotating together with the hand gripping part; and a cam sliding part to slide according to rotating of the cam part; wherein the elastic member is coupled with the cam sliding part to supply the restoring force with respect to rotation of the hand gripping part. 